John Lewis remembered in Alabama | CNN Politics

Civil rights icon John Lewis remembered in Alabama

The casket of Rep. John Lewis moves over the Edmund Pettus Bridge by horse drawn carriage during a memorial service for Lewis, Sunday, July 26, 2020, in Selma, Ala. Lewis, who carried the struggle against racial discrimination from Southern battlegrounds of the 1960s to the halls of Congress, died Friday, July 17, 2020. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
Watch Rep. John Lewis cross Edmund Pettus Bridge for the last time
08:59 - Source: CNN

What we're covering here

  • Remembering John Lewis: Americans are honoring the congressman and civil rights leader in Alabama, his home state, today.
  • Last march: Lewis’ body crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Alabama one last time Sunday morning. The Selma bridge is where he helped lead the 1965 march for voting rights.
  • After that: Lewis’ body will lay in state in at the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery.

Our coverage of John Lewis has ended for the evening.

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John Lewis' casket has been placed inside the Alabama state capitol

Rep. John Lewis’ casket is being carried into the Alabama statehouse. His family and friends were seen approaching the statehouse. 

John Lewis' casket arrives at Alabama's capitol

The hearse carrying Rep. John Lewis’ casket has arrived at the Alabama state capitol in Montgomery.

Alabama’s current governor, Kay Ivey, will participate in a short welcoming ceremony and then Lewis’ body will lie in state inside the capitol.  

Rep. James Clyburn will offer measure to name voting rights bill after John Lewis

The third-ranking House Democrat, Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina will offer a measure Monday to name the voting rights bill after Rep. John Lewis. 

Read more details on the bill here.

Where the effort to rename the Edmund Pettus Bridge after John Lewis stands

The casket of Rep. John Lewis is carried by horse-drawn carriage over the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, on July 26.

The death of Rep. John Lewis has renewed calls to rename the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, after the civil rights icon who himself did not see the renaming as necessary.

In 2015, a proposal to rename the bridge failed in the Alabama state legislature, the Montgomery Advertiser reported.

Prior to the legislation, Lewis said the original name of the bridge was “a decision for the people of Alabama to make” and that “you can change the name of the bridge but you cannot change the facts of history,” the congressman said in a statement at the time, according to the Advertiser.

Former NAACP president and CEO Cornell William Brooks told CNN today that Lewis’ stance on the renaming effort had everything to do with the congressman’s “political humility.”

Some context on the renaming movement: The push to rename the bridge comes amid a national conversation around monuments, names and symbols that celebrate the Confederacy and their place in America today. The bridge’s namesake, Edmund Pettus, was a Confederate general and leader of the Ku Klux Klan in Alabama.

At age 25, Lewis helped lead the 1965 march for voting rights on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, where he and other marchers were met by heavily armed state and local police who brutally beat them with clubs, fracturing Lewis’ skull. The day became known as “Bloody Sunday” and galvanized Americans’ support for the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

An organization petitioning for the name change, “John Lewis Bridge Project,” said in part in a statement following Lewis’ death: “He dedicated his life to the pursuit of unconditional love and equality for all Americans. His legacy is our legacy, his story is our story.”

The petition on Change.org had more than 518,000 signatures as of Sunday afternoon

“John Lewis was alive long enough to hear us start this process, unfortunately he is no longer with us and won’t see us finish this. But we will finish this,” the project’s founder Michael Starr Hopkins said in an interview on MSNBC.

Lewis’ motorcade route is the same as the 1965 march to Montgomery

Rep. John Lewis will travel by hearse via Highway 80 and through the streets of Montgomery. The route is the same as the original march to Montgomery in 1965, according to a spokesperson for Lewis’ office.  

Lewis will arrive at the Alabama state capitol at about 2:15 p.m. ET.

A private, receiving ceremony will take place prior to the doors opening to the public. The wreath laying will include Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, Alabama’s Congressional delegation and members of Lewis’ family.

Lewis' casket will now travel to Montgomery, Alabama

The Armed Forces Bearers have transferred the casket of John Lewis to the hearse to bring the Civil Rights icon from Selma to Montgomery after his final crossing of the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

From Selma, the casket is expected to be driven to the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery – the same Alabama Capitol where staunch segregationist George C. Wallace served four terms as governor. 

Alabama’s current governor, Republican Kay Ivey, is expected to participate in a short welcoming ceremony and then Lewis’ body will lie in state inside the capitol.

The city will also host an evening vigil in a park honoring the life and legacy of Lewis.

Civil Rights icon John Lewis has crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge one last time

Rep. John Lewis’ flag draped casket, pulled by horse and carriage, has crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge one final time Sunday morning in Selma, Alabama.

As it crossed the rose petal covered bridge alone, the caisson paused at the top of the bridge, and the caisson driver, stood and removed his hat. The driver did this one more time, as the caisson departed the bridge. 

For the entire crossing, Selma seemed to fall silent, with the only sound that could be heard were the cicadas.

After crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge for the last time, family members and Alabama state troopers met the body of the late congressman. Fifty-five years ago, Lewis was also met by state troopers, who were among the law enforcement officers that clashed with protesters on the same bridge.

The six people who met Lewis’ caisson and walked behind him are his son John-Miles Lewis, brothers Freddie Lewis, Sam Lewis, Grant Lewis, sister Rosa Tyner, and Lewis’ chief of staff Michael Collins, according to a spokesman for the family. 

Some history: Lewis, who helped lead the 1965 Selma march for voting rights, was nearly killed when he and others on the Edmund Pettus Bridge were met by heavily armed state and local police who attacked them with clubs, fracturing Lewis’ skull.

The day became known as “Bloody Sunday” and galvanized Americans’ support for the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

 Watch the moment:

John Lewis’ casket has arrived at the Edmund Pettus Bridge

John Lewis’ flag draped casket, pulled by horse and carriage, will be carried across the Edmund Pettus Bridge one final time.

It is expected that Lewis’ caisson will cross along the bridge alone.

The public will not be permitted to stand on the side of the bridge and as the caisson passes the bridge arch, it will pause for approximately 60 seconds. 

As it neared the bridge, applause and cheers could be heard from people who’ve lined the street to pay their final respects.

John Lewis begins his final journey to the Edmund Pettus Bridge

The horse-drawn caisson carrying the casket of Rep. John Lewis has left the Brown AME Church to begin the late Civil Rights icon’s final journey through Selma, Alabama.

The caisson will make its way through the streets of Selma, which have been covered in rose petals, to the foot of the historic Edmund Pettus Bridge. With a military honor guard leading the way, Lewis’ casket, pulled by horse and carriage, will cross the bridge one final time. 

The route Lewis’ caisson will take is the same taken on Bloody Sunday in 1965, a spokesperson for the family said. 

Historical significance: Throughout March of 1965, a group of demonstrators faced violence as they attempted to march from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery, Alabama, to demand the right to vote for black people.

One of the pivotal days was March 7, when 17 people were hospitalized and dozens more injured by police, including Lewis who suffered a fractured skull.

Since that time, March 7 has been known as “Bloody Sunday.”

John Lewis' casket moved to horse-drawn caisson to be taken across Pettus Bridge

The Armed Forces Bearers have placed the casket of Rep. John Lewis on a horse-drawn caisson outside of the Brown AME Church in Selma, Alabama, ahead of his final march through the city and across the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

The caisson is being pulled by two black horses and a driver in a black suit with a black top hat. The driver is also wearing a facemask.

The caisson, which is black with red-brown wheels, is modeled after the one Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had for his funeral. a family spokesperson said. The caisson is from a funeral home in Atlanta. 

Watch:

Pastor says John Lewis "strived so that this world could be a better place"

Before a caisson carrying the casket of John Lewis made its final journey over the Edmund Pettus Bridge, the civil rights icon was given a brief send off at Brown AME Church Sunday in Selma.

One those who spoke was Otis Culliver, pastor at the Historic Tabernacle Baptist Church.

Delivering a brief prayer, Culliver said, “Thank you for congressman John Lewis. Thank you father for his legacy. His legacy of being a freedom fighter, his legacy of being a foot solider for justice. The legacy of being a servant of humanity.” 

Culliver continued: “He strived so that this world could be a better place, a more equitable world, a world that is more just and more righteous.” 

“Thank you for his service to humanity. Thank you Lord that He was willing to get in the way. Thank you, that he was willing to stir the trouble” he said.

Alabama congresswoman: "Our nation is better off because of John Robert Lewis. My life is better"

Speaking at a service at Brown AME Church in Selma Sunday morning before John Lewis’ final march through Selma, Alabama Rep. Terri Sewell said “our nation is better off because of John Robert Lewis.”

The memorial ceremony for John Lewis has begun at Brown AME Church in Selma

The program honoring Rep. John Lewis has begun at the Brown AME Church chapel, with opening remarks from Alabama Rep. Terri Sewell.

Watch:

John Lewis’ family has arrived at the Brown AME Church in Selma

The family of John Lewis has arrived at Brown AME Church in Selma, Alabama, ahead of the program expected there before the Civil Right Icon makes his final march through the city this morning.

Family members are wearing T-shirts that say “Good Trouble” with John Lewis’ signature on them.

John Lewis' caisson is modeled after Martin Luther King Jr.'s funeral caisson

The caisson that will be used for Rep. John Lewis is being led by two black horses and is modeled after the one Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had for his funeral, a family spokesperson said.

Lewis’ body will make the final journey across the famous bridge in Selma, Alabama, where he helped lead a march for voting rights in 1965.

Some history: At age 25, Lewis and other marchers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge were met by heavily armed state and local police who attacked them with clubs, fracturing Lewis’ skull.

Following a short ceremony outside of Brown Chapel AME Church, Lewis’ body will travel on a horse-drawn caisson through several blocks of downtown Selma until it reaches the base of the bridge shortly after 10 a.m. local time.

Lewis’ casket on the caisson will cross the bridge alone. The caisson will pause as it crosses the bridge beneath the awning that bears the bridge’s name for approximately one minute.

Crowds begin to gather to watch John Lewis' motorcade in Alabama

Charlotte Knox on the left and Velma Martin on the right in Selma, Alabama.

Velma Martin is among a small group of people to gather early at the Edmund Pettus Bridge Sunday morning to pay their respects to John Lewis.

Martin traveled roughly five hours from Orville, Alabama, to “celebrate a legend, the life of a person who sacrifice for others,” she told CNN.

Another spectator who gathered early was Charlotte Knox, who lives in Selma.

She said she crosses the Pettus Bridge every day.

“It takes me to work. It’s obviously been here all my life. It’s a beautiful day to celebrate the life and legacy of Congressman Lewis, and I’m glad to be here today,” Knox said.

Lewis will be honored in Alabama, Georgia and DC over 6 days

Services and ceremonies to honor the life of Rep. John Lewis, who died last week at age 80, began yesterday and will run through Thursday.

Public services were held in Alabama, both in Troy, his home town, and Selma, where he help lead a civil rights mach in 1965. Today, his body will across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma and then lay in state at the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery.

Lewis’ body will move to the nation’s capital tomorrow. Lewis will lie in state on the East Front Steps of the Capitol for a public viewing. Visitors can pay their respects to Lewis on Monday afternoon and throughout the day on Tuesday.

Lewis will return to Atlanta on Wednesday. The Democrats served as the US representative for Georgia’s 5th Congressional District for more than three decades.

He will lie in state at the Georgia State Capitol on Wednesday, and there will be a funeral at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church on Thursday.

John Lewis' casket will cross the Alabama bridge where he marched for civil rights 55 years ago

A state trooper swings a billy club at John Lewis, right foreground, in 1965 on "Bloody Sunday" in Selma, Alabama.

People are gathering in Alabama today to remember the life of civil rights activist John Lewis, died last week at age 80 after a six-month battle with cancer.

A military honor guard will accompany John Lewis’ body across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Alabama this morning. That’s where he helped lead the 1965 march for voting rights.

Lewis was 25 years old when activists marched across the bridge. He and other marchers were met by heavily armed state and local police who brutally beat them with clubs, fracturing Lewis’ skull.

The day became known as “Bloody Sunday” and galvanized Americans’ support for the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

There’s been a push to rename the bridge after civil rights legend. The bridge’s current namesake, Edmund Pettus, was a Confederate general and leader of the Ku Klux Klan in Alabama.

John Lewis 1940 - 2020

A Virginia high school named for Robert E. Lee will be renamed for Rep. John Lewis
How John Lewis befriended a young boy and changed his life forever
Body of civil rights icon John Lewis to lie in state at US Capitol
Pressure mounts to rename Alabama’s Edmund Pettus Bridge in honor of John Lewis
Georgia state Sen. Nikema Williams picked to replace Lewis on November ballot

John Lewis 1940 - 2020

A Virginia high school named for Robert E. Lee will be renamed for Rep. John Lewis
How John Lewis befriended a young boy and changed his life forever
Body of civil rights icon John Lewis to lie in state at US Capitol
Pressure mounts to rename Alabama’s Edmund Pettus Bridge in honor of John Lewis
Georgia state Sen. Nikema Williams picked to replace Lewis on November ballot